Abstract
High dielectric (Ba, Sr) TiO$_3$ thin films were etched in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a function of Cl$_2$/Ar mixing ration. Under Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80), the maximum etch rate of the BST films was 400 $\AA$/mim and selectivities of BST to Pt and PR were obtained 0.4 and 0.2, respectively. Etching products were redeposited on the surface of BST and resulted in varying the nature of crystallinity. Therefore, we investigated the etched surface of BST by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). From the result of XPS analysis, we found that residues of Ba-Cl and Ti-Cl bonds remained on the surface of the etched BST for high boiling point. The morphology of the etched surfact was analyzed by AFM. A smoothsurface(roughness ~2.8nm) ws observed under Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80), rf power of 600 W, dc bias voltage of -250 V and pressure of 10 mTorr. This changed the nature of the crystallinity of BST. From the result of XRD analysis, the crystallinities of the etched BST film under Ar only and Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80) were maintained as similar to as-deposited BST. However, intensity of BST(100) orientation under Cl$_2$ only plasma was abruptly decreased. This indicated that CI compounds were redeposited on the etched BST surface and resulted in changed of the crystallinity of BST during the etch process.
